Their laughter only grew louder.
Finally, the man who had remained silent spoke. He sat sprawled on the sofa, exhaling a lazy plume of cigarette smoke.
"Leave."
"Even if you knelt here and kowtowed a hundred times, we wouldn't help you."
Because Austin had given them their orders long before.
Punishment was punishment.
For three full years, they were forbidden to show me an ounce of mercy or offer me the slightest convenience.
Only then could they properly avenge his precious secretary, Kathy Barnes.
So how did I scrape together that five hundred dollars?
I walked into a hospital and sold my blood.
Later, I took that money to the prison, only to be told Austin had already been released on medical parole.
The cash changed hands until it finally reached one of Austin's friends.
I was so desperate I nearly dropped to my knees.
"Please—please make sure this money gets to Austin. He can't get into any more trouble."
But at that very moment, Austin was with his little secretary at Disneyland, posing for photos like they didn't have a care in the world.
He tossed that five hundred dollars at a staff member like it was a crumpled receipt.
"Dirty money from god knows where. Disgusting."
Just like my heart—trampled without a second thought.
And now, here was Austin, personally overseeing every detail of Kathy's birthday gala. A blue-and-white porcelain vase worth hundreds of thousands of dollars sat on display as mere decoration.
Every detail had been planned to perfection.
But I couldn't bear to watch anymore.
I nearly lost control more than once. I wanted to storm up there, to slap him across the face so hard my palm would sting for days.
I wanted to demand answers. Why did you lie to me for three years? Just because I made Kathy work as a maid for three days?
I wanted to tear off my clothes and show him every scar, every wound I'd collected over these three years.
But in the end, I did nothing.
I watched the man who should have been behind bars for three more days. He stood there in a suit that cost more than everything I owned, looking every inch the ruthless tycoon.
He pulled Kathy—his little princess—into his arms, his face soft with adoration as he wished her a happy birthday.
Then I turned away, expressionless, and went back to my basement rental.
Dark. Damp. I'd lived here for three years.
The bathroom was right by the door. Mold crept across the walls in patches that had accumulated over months, years. The smell of rot drifted through the air without warning.
When I first moved in, I threw up every single day.
For the first twenty-five years of my life, I'd been pampered. The precious eldest daughter of the Sanchez family. I'd never known a day of hardship.
I was an internationally renowned painter. Awards lined my shelves—so many I'd lost count.
At the height of my success, Austin Vance—the golden heir of the Vance family—got down on one knee and proposed.
After we married, he spoiled me even more.
Just like that, I'd become the woman every girl dreamed of being. The media called me "life's winner."
Until Austin hired a timid, soft-spoken secretary named Kathy Barnes.
She was the daughter of my family's housekeeper, yet she competed with me at every turn.
Her clothes weren't as fine as mine, so she mocked me as a useless trophy wife.
Her skills couldn't match mine, so she whispered behind my back that I'd either been born lucky or slept my way to the top.
Worse still, she'd schemed her way into becoming Austin's secretary—and never missed a chance to poison him against me.
She told him I bullied her mother at home. That I ruined her clothes.
That I'd forced her to kneel and serve me like a maid.
I thought the truth would speak for itself. I never bothered to defend myself.
Until the day I finally finished the painting I'd worked on for two years.
I was about to have it framed. I stepped out for just a moment.
When I came back, it was covered in ink.
